


The Misadventures of Morty and Rick

by thefirecrest



Series: The Adventures of Morty and Rick [2]
Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adult Morty, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bottom morty, Child Abuse, Dimension Travel, Eventual Rick Sanchez/Morty Smith, Eventual Smut, Fake Science, Fixing Rick's childhood, Fluff, Grumpy Rick, Head breasts, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Incest, Interdimensional Mafia, M/M, Mentor Morty, Morty gonna rip him a new one, Morty is not happy with this, Morty is still a whimpy kid, Multiple adventure, Not A Fix-It, Parental Morty, Pseudo-Incest, Psychological Trauma, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rick is 16, Rick is still an asshole, Rick's father is a dick, Role Reversal, Science, Scientist Morty, Shit goes down, Slow Burn, Suggestive Themes, Teen Rick, Tentacles, Time Travel, Top Rick, Underage because Rick is 16, Weird Plot Shit, Women ruled alien planet were breast milk on their heads is a huge source of income, Young Rick, Young adult Morty, and Morty is 25, breast milk, mafia, rated T for now, space mafia, strange biology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2018-08-31 08:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirecrest/pseuds/thefirecrest
Summary: Crazy space-time shenanigans leads Morty to meet a younger Rick struggling through his teen years on the harsh streets of Queens New York. Reluctant at first, the two eventually become an inseparable duo traveling the multiverse both saving and causing chaos wherever they go. There will be tentacles, shit talking aliens, corporate breast milk, the space mafia, and a fuck ton of other unmentionable crazy shit as they travel throughout the universe. Meanwhile, Rick struggles to find himself and Morty's past catches up with him.(The One-Shot Prequel called "Never Look Back" gives a little more insight to how Morty began his adventures and the statues of Summer and their parents. But not necessary to read for this to make sense.)





	1. The Salvation of Coffee

Of course it was just Morty’s luck that he would run into _them_ today.

It was supposed to be a simple run. In, grab, and out. Something Morty had done countless times in the past. Paachi had contacted him three Federation weeks ago about a favor for a friend. The large Prinkian (from Sector K-14 on the planet Prinkleron) didn’t mention the “friend’s” name but explained that there was an object that needed retrieving from a nearby VAULT™ facility. As far as VAULT™ stations usually went this one was on the smaller side and had a much tinier budget than other sites the company ran across the galaxies. That meant few underpaid security guards and an easy time for anyone with a portal gun.

Paachi was a longtime friend and acquaintance. He and Morty had done business in the past before and the Prinkian was good with background checks on potential clients (the alien ran a small time smuggling business on Prinkleron and several other neighboring planets). While their meeting may have been accidental (it involved a gun that shot out miniature lions, and a copious amount of cheap cheese. Don’t ask.) the two worked out a fairly good arrangement with Morty occasionally running some jobs for Paachi and Paachi giving out a few favors in return. Morty _trusted_ the Prinkian and usually didn’t question the alien’s judgement.

Until now that it.

Three weeks after the initial request and two weeks after constant communication, planning, and preparation the mission was a go. Paachi’s intel held up at first with few guards only performing their duties half assed. It was ridiculously easy to knockout the entire facility with an undetectable gaseous sleeping agent. A quick hack into the security system to loop the feed and cut all other security parameters (after all, it wouldn’t do to leave any evidence that it was _Morty Smith_ who did the job. Which was the only reason he didn’t just portal in). Then it was as simple as typing in the location and zapping open a portal. Only it wasn’t that simple.

The moment Morty stepped through the portal there was a familiar (and disheartening) feeling of an anti-portal wave washing over him in a cold buzz, the green portal snapping closed behind him, and he was suddenly surrounded by all sides by a group of _their_ hounds ( hounds being giant six foot lizard man creatures that could sniff out a bug through multiple dimensions). Clearly the mission had been compromised. Whether it was Paachi not doing a thorough enough background check on his “friend” or it was Paachi himself that sold him out. Whatever it was all that was shooting through Morty’s head was, “ _I’m so fucked._ ”

In front of him in the obviously empty room (the fucking item wasn’t even _there,_ did it even _exist?_ ) was a familiar face.

“Hello Master Morty. It’s so very good to see you again.”

The human smiled through a grimace, “H-hey there Kevin. Long t-time no see eh?” Kevin was a short (three foot) purple alien that resembled a tiny man with an octopus for a head, with tentacles running down from his mouthless face down to his sternum. Both his hands were also tentacles. He wore a brown suit with a matching brown bowler hat, had a constant unamused look on his face, and spoke in a posh British accent. The little alien was also a huge annoyance in Morty’s life as evading the thing was a struggle. “I see you’re alone today. Is your b-boss busy o-or something?”

Kevin nodded, his many tentacles bounced on his chest, “Quite so I’m afraid. The Master has a very important meeting to attend today and I’m sure if that were not the case he would most definitely be here to greet you. Sadly he will just have to settle for seeing you after we bring you in. I’m sure he will be delighted to see you through.”

“I’m sure,” Morty replied dryly. His hands fiddled with a blaster in his lab coat pocket. _I have to buy time_ , he thought unpleasantly. “I-I-I’m surprised to see you so soon though. I-I was sure that the boss was still ticked off at me from the last time.” He bit back a groan when a bolt fell from between his fingers. Working without his eyes was so fucking _annoying._

Kevin’s eyes widened, “No no. Of course not Master Morty. Boss could _never_ be upset with you,” he consoled. “He was very upset with the situation naturally. Those that had been in charge of guarding your holdings were punished severely.” At this Morty winced, he didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. They were probably dead if _his_ temper was anything to go by. “I would advise against making another escape though. Master only has so much patience after all.”

“I-i-i-is that so huh?” Morty let out a shaky laugh. _Come on, just one more piece…_ “Well I guess all I can r-r-real-ly-ly say to that is...” _Click. Got it._ He pulled the finished blaster from his coat and pointed it at the small alien. “Lick lick lick my balls assholes! Haha!” He fired.

One of the hounds growled and jumped in front of Kevin and took the pink blast to the chest. It went down with a high pitched whine as the rest of its brethren turned their murderous gazes onto the human. Morty just let out of breathy chuckled, “Whoops?” And ran.

He quickly fired at the two hound’s blocking the entrance from the room. One hit the wall and went down but the other took the blast like a champ and made a furious swipe at Morty with it’s giant three inch claw. Said human “eeped” and narrowly dodged out of the way and slammed the button to open that door. When that didn’t work he quickly latched a small device to the button panel. It fried the circuits and the door opened. Morty jumped through before the exit even opened completely roars sounded close behind him. He could hear Kevin shouting.

“You idiot! Keep your claws to yourself! We want him _alive_ you mutt. Now after him!”

It really was just his luck…

… And probably had something to do with getting involved with the wrong crowd stupidly. The interdimensional space mafia was nothing to scoff at after all. Especially since their leader had a fixation on Morty himself. He’s been running from these goons for a good few years.

Morty jumped over a sleeping guard as he made his way to the front of the VAULT™ facility. He struggled to remember the blueprint layout of the building and hoped he wasn’t getting himself more lost. The hounds were still hot on his heel. Occasionally he had to turn around and fire a blast. Fucking Paachi told him not to bring a blaster in case a backup security system kicked in from detecting it. _Lies._ If it turned out that the Prinkan was responsible for this little escapade then Morty was going to _down that motherfucker._

Suddenly a large hound barreled into him from behind. Morty let out a shout and twisted his body to avoid the grabbing hands, but _damn_ did that hurt like a bitch. The force of the tackle knocked Morty to the ground a few feet forwards and he was quick to turn onto his back and face the approaching hound. Morty hissed as he jolted what was most likely a broken rib (fucking genetically modified monsters were _strong_ ) but still kept his eye on the creature. He lashed out with a hard kick, briefly stunning the monster, before firing a hot pink blast right into it’s face. The hunter stumbled back with a roar, it’s long forked tongue wiggling out of it’s maw in pain.

Morty grimaced then got to his feet and began his race down the hallways. He raced passed rooms filled to the brim with rare and highly-desired goodies that VAULT™ liked to hord. It wasn’t long before he finally made it to the VAULT™ reception room. Two shots into the glass doors, shattering fragments everywhere, and he leaped out of the trapped facility and onto a dark street (this VAULT™ quarters was situation on a densely populated planet toy, Krust, in the same solar system as Prinkleron). It was the middle of the night and the three moons of Krust shining down on the lone human.

The moment he stepped out of the building though, Morty could feel the cold buzz of the anti-portal field recede from his being. “O-oh my gosh…” He pulled replaced the blaster with his portal gun, nearly dropping it in a nervous fumble, and shot open a random portal.

The thing about the genetically modified “hounds” (slimy lizard men) that was mentioned before was their affinity for sniffing things out through dimensions. With inter-dimensional traveling becoming more popular as of late (highly regulated by the cooperation of the variations of the Galactic Federation) these hounds had been created for the sole purpose of tracking down and detaining criminals (some dumbass Rick probably released the blueprints for them). Of course that all went to shit when the interdimensional space mafia got ahold of them.

And made them larger _and_ scarier.

The only way to lose the things was to open a crapton of random portals and to jump through as quick as possible in hopes of making them lose the trail. It wasn’t easy for sure. Luckily Morty had something a little more special.

His portal gun wasn’t just an interdimensional portal gun.

It was a interdimensional _and_ a time manipulator portal gun. And without knowing where or even _when_ Morty was going to be entering, he jumped through the swirling green vortex.

~*~

“Sorry Boss…” Kevin muttered to the communication device. “We've got two groups of hounds after him but it doesn’t look so good.”

_“That’s not good enough Kevin. I’m not happy with this news.”_

The small purple alien winced. He could almost feel the cold anger and malice radiating from across dimensions. A cold sweat would’ve broken out if his biology had been capable of such a feat. Either way, the terror the tiny man felt was heart stopping. “My apologies Master. Next time I will not be so careless.”

There was a hum of acknowledgement from the communicator.

_“... Fine. Return back for now. But keep an eye out on those hounds in case they do catch up to him. Morty Smith is a capable man but even he has his moments of carelessness. Tonight was a testament to that. We will just have to wait and bide our time again. I can be patient. Afterall, he cannot run from me forever.”_

Kevin nodded though no one could see him, “Very good Sir. Have a good evening Master.” The communicator clicked off and the alien let out a sigh of relief. He was lucky that he was such an important person in the boss’s system or he probably would’ve lost his head by now. The Master was known for his patience but also for his terrifying temper. People have been slaughtered for much slighter offenses, and he definitely was not happy with Kevin’s work.

The tiny alien adjusted his bowler hat and let out a nervous cough. He reached for his communicator again and signed onto a different channel. “Alright hound groups one and two. Keep up your pursuit for Morty Smith as per orders from the boss.” There was an unintelligent reply. “Cathy?”

A female voice responded, “Yes sir.”

“Prepare a shuttle to return to headquarters. Our mission here is done.”

~*~

Morty was starting to feel exhausted.

Traveling through portals was tiring enough (something about the feeling of traveling past a rip in spacetime did not bode well for the psyche) but he also had to travel through each dimension for a good bit before opening a new portal. That added up to be a lot of running and, for a man who spent a majority of his time cruising through portals and lounging in his lab, it was a rather difficult pace to keep up.

The last dimension he traveled through surprisingly happened to be Gearworld. Though it seemed that Morty’s portal gun decided to be dicks and land him in the middle of one of the major Gear Wars which was _not_ cool. He nearly lost his head the moment he stepped through and was witness to a city on fire as enemy Gear people bombed the citizens from aircrafts above.

On the brightside, two of the five hounds that managed to follow him this far were killed in the crossfire. Morty ran as fast as he could away from the searching monsters, amidst all the fiery chaos and sounds of screaming from Gearheads, and was quick to open to new set of portals and randomly jump through one.

The next place he landed was a rural village filled with fished headed cows that walked on two feet. It was a rather strange sight. It seemed though, that the hounds must’ve gotten lost in all the confusion of the Gear Wars as nothing followed him through the portal for a good fifteen minutes. But just to be on the safeside, Morty opened another series of portals (much to the shock and confusion of the Fish-Cow villagers) and stepped through one randomly.

And stepped onto a well paved street in an obviously human inhabited city.

Morty looked around in surprise as he hadn’t expected, out of all the places he could’ve ended up in, that he landed on a version of Earth. He looked down at his modified portal gun with curiosity and was shocked again at the coordinates it showed. The little red text box read: Dimension C-130.

_That_ was shockingly close to his own dimension of origin (C-137 that was Cronenberg-ized and C-139 that he usually resided in). The chances of him landing in a universe so similar to his own was a near astronomical impossibility (though not completely impossible as his presence would show). On top of that he also landed on Earth instead some other place in the endless expanses of this dimension’s space. And by the looks of it, he landed in some forty years past America if the clothing choices around him was anything to go by. People sporting late-1970s fashions with flaring pants and denim jackets walked around him on the sidewalk.

A hotdog cart worker stared at Morty with obvious fear in his eyes but he seemed to be the only one to notice Morty’s sudden by-portal appearance. The streets seemed fairly empty at the time. He observed the tall buildings rising up around him and concluded that he was in some metropolis, though which was debatable. Some of the buildings seemed a little run down.

Deciding that he better move on in case the hounds managed to follow him here, Morty put his portal gun away and began walking down the street. He ignored the hotdog worker who flinched away as the young scientist passed by. It wasn’t like anyone was going to believe someone spouting stories about a man appearing out of a green vortex.

“Ahhh damn…” Morty shifted his body and rubbed his chest lightly, wincing at the shot of pain that ran up his torso. Now that the adrenaline was wearing down the felling of his obviously broken rib came back with a vengeance. Morty hissed and cursed his lack of insight for not bringing a healing kit. He was also exhausted and could really use a coffee.

As if something heard his prayers, the delicious scent of coffee tickled at his nose and tempted him with it’s fragrant smells. Morty frowned and weighed his options. He probably shouldn’t stay in one spot for too long, but it did seem like he had lost the hunters and that coffee was really calling out for him. He shrugged. It couldn’t hurt to pick up one cup. His legs changed directions to lead him towards the source of the aroma. _Maybe they have those delicious fruit danishes too. Haven’t had one of those in a while…_

He stepped up to a quaint little shop labeled “Cuppa Morning”. The bell on the door made a light tinkle when he stepped in and Morty took in the dark woods and earthy smells of the authentic coffee shop. There was a warm atmosphere as the decent number of patrons quietly sipped their javas and read their books and papers. Morty let out a low whistle and immediately thanked himself for deciding to come here. There weren’t a lot of places in the vast multiverse that provided such a wholesome environment. It was comforting and despite the pain in Morty’s side he found himself smiling.

The man walked towards the counter whilst staring at the welcoming decor of the shop. There were multiple stylish paintings hanging from the high walls and little knick knacks scattered throughout that held obvious sentimental value to the owner. The chairs and couches were in nice maroons and earthy greens and set in dark wooden frames. Morty has been witness to countless styles over the course of his travels but none quite compared to a welcoming Earth cafe (even 40 years in the past). He hummed in appreciation.

However, despite Morty’s many adventures and course of maturity the one thing that never really left him was his lack of observation and general clumsiness. Which meant that while he was distracted by the beautiful decorations he failed to look where he was walking.

And walked straight into a person.

“Ah shit-!” Morty hissed out as he stumbled backwards clutching his chest. The collision jolted his broken rib. In front of him there was a person hunched cursing up a storm. Apparently the hit had caused them to spill their cuppa all over the floor and their hand.

“What the fuck asshole,” the person slowly turned around and bared his teeth at Morty. “You owe me another coffee you dick. Look what you did!” He thrust his hand into Morty’s face, it was red, angry, burnt, and clearly hurt like a bitch. “You better fucking pay for this dickwad! Are you even listening asshole?!”

Morty was not. He was too busy trying to catch his breath and cursing himself for putting coffee before his broken rib. As pretty as the coffee shop was this was clearly a mistake.

“Hey cunt! Listen to me when I’m talking to yoooUuu!” There was a loud belch.

“Oi, Rick. Pipe it down will ‘ya? You’re gonna scare off all my customers.” Morty froze.

The person in front of Morty -Rick- whirled their head around and glared at the person at the register. “Well what am I-I supposed to do Shane? Let this dick get away with burning my hand AND ruining my perfectly good coffee?” Morty felt like hyperventilating. He was scared to look up. _There’s no way… This should be statistically impossible..._

There was a snort, “Common Rick. I’ll just get you another cup. On the house.”

Rick scowled and rolled his eyes. “ _Fine._ But this dick’s still got some explaining to do. Hey. Look at me.”

At the command Morty’s head immediately snapped up and his brown eyes clashed with hard steely gray ones. He gasped a soundless gasp as he took in the foreign yet familiar face. The wild hair (less spiky and brushed back in rumpled but smooth waves), the single uni brow furrowed down in annoyance, the young age-less face that Morty could still tell where familiar wrinkles will one day form, and a scowl that was all Rick. _His Rick’s scowl._ And Morty can’t speak.

“Hey asshole. Are you fucking braindead or something? Shane I think he’s brain dead.”

“If you broke him then you’re taking the blame for it. Just dispose of the body away from my shop.”

Something in Morty snapped and suddenly he could breath again. But now he’s knees were weak and he could feel his entire body shaking. Taking a shaky breath when Rick turned back to stare him in the eyes again Morty spoke.

“...Rick?” Steel gray eyes widen in surprise and suspicion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And fin! I need to find a beta lol. The writing process is so tedious and I never want to proof read it. I just kinda skim through when I’m done. Though i feel that the end of the chapter was rather rushed… Idk. I’ll figure it out.  
> Here is a link to a page I drew up for this before I even finalized the main plot of the story. You can see what adult!Morty looks like: http://realitystuck-realitysucks.tumblr.com/post/148567043616/rick-and-morty-au-where-rick-never-got  
> That is also my tumblr and I post art on there occasionally. Check it out if you’d like.  
> So… Surprise! This will also be a semi-coffee shop AU. Shane will be a recurring minor character that runs the shop. The coffee shop is where Rick and Morty will eventually be running their operations out of. :)  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.  
> Lots of love - TheFireCrest  
> 


	2. a shitty ass morning

Rick was having shitty ass morning.

It wasn’t that he woke up, wadded through all the random crap (a collection of beer cans, dirty clothes, and various wires and pieces for his projects) all over the floor, down to the living room where his father was passed out drunk (again), and into the kitchen where the milk was (still) spoilt. These were normal everyday things part of a normal everyday routine. These things did not bother him one bit. Rick just grimaced at the milk and put it back in the beat up old fridge to grimace at the next day. Once again he grabbed one of the several boxes of Wheaties and walked back up to his room with the entire box. The teen took a minute glance at the newest athlete featured on the cover. Some decathlon guy named Bruce Jenner. He shrugged and reached in and stuffed a handful of wheaties into his mouth. If crumbs fell from his fingers onto the ground he didn’t bother to pick them up.

The morning was as normal as any other. It was nearly nine already, school would start soon, and Rick decided he wasn’t going to go today. There was still coffee he wanted to pick up and by time he got ready and got coffee he would be late. Going to school would just mean getting pointlessly scolded and Rick had more important shit he wanted to get done. Like his study in subatomic and molecular structure and physical light constructs and how he could utilize that to recreate the pack of raspberry toastettes sitting on his desk (so he wouldn’t have to keep walking to the store and buy them every time he got a craving). 

Though a more ambitious part of him was imagining using the project to mass produce the types of drugs that would make him rich.

The project wasn’t going so well though. He was still struggling with the theoretical components of it. That was a bad sign as it meant that the final product may be impossible to achieve. And Rick  _ loathed  _ the word “impossible”. Of course that wasn’t the only important thing he was working on. Another design he was working on would take him  _ far far  _ away from this shit hole. But Rick was still struggling to obtain all the parts and equipment to construct the portal machine he imagined in his head. He imagined it would take him another year or so to finish it (though in actuality it had taken Ricks all across the multiverse decades to complete that particular project).

“Fucking useless piece of shit,” he grumbled to himself as he fiddled with a screen on his bed. He groaned when the screen lit up then promptly sputtered and died. The teen chucked it across the room in a fit of anger then froze when he realized what he had done. The device hit the ground with a loud bang and Rick sucked in a sharp breath and listened downstairs. When no noise sounded within the next few minutes he sighed and berated himself for being such a pussy. “Ahh, fuck this, time to get some brain juice.” He jumped off the bed and shimmied out of his dirty boxers, picked up a cleaner pair on the ground, sniffed it, and made a noise of approval before slipping it on. He dressed quickly into his jeans (“fuck those godawful giant feet holes, fashion statement is a fuUUuuucking lie”), a sweater for the colder weather, and shrugged on his favorite leather jacket (Rick had never fallen in love so fast with anything before as he had with this single article of clothing).

Years of practice allowed the teen to easily sneak past the slumbering asshat without making a noise and waking the beast. Better Rick be gone and out of the house when  _ that  _ mess went down. His neighbors gave up complaining about the noise and yelling years ago.

Thank goodness Cuppa Morning was only a few blocks away (the only  _ good  _ coffee shop in this rundown area, which was the only reason the damn place was still in business) because the morning was rather chilly and Rick didn’t think to bring his scarf. It didn’t take long until he pushed past the door to the coffee shop and was hit by the strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The teen exhaled in content and waltzed up the counter and shot the person behind the counter a smoldering look. “What’s up gorgeous. Ready to make thiiiiis guy some nice hot coffee?”

The cashier just rolled their eyes, “Good morning to you too Rick. It’s Wednesday isn’t it? Don’t you have school?”

Rick scoffed, “Psh. Fuck that place. Hasn’t taught me anything I couldn’t teach myself.” He leaned on his forearms against the counter, “n-n-now how about that cuppa joe?” He eyed one of the pastries on display, “and maybe a custard tart? On the house for an old friend aye Shane?”

“You wish brat,” Shane scoffed. “I’m running a business, not a charity.” The bell at the entrance rang as someone walked in. “That’ll be 62 cents.” They turned around and poured a cup of hot coffee into a mug and placed in on the counter. Rick handed Shane the coins with a muttered “stingy” and grabbed his drink.

Rick only managed to turn around when someone bumped into him, nearly knocking the mug out of his hand. Hot coffee splashed out of the cup and onto Rick’s hand, shirt, and shoes. He hissed in pain and surprise (“fuck fuck fuck, are you FUUUUUUCKING kidding me! Shit shit, motherfucker!”), taking a moment to recover from burning sensation spreading across his skin then, eyes flashing, looked up to glare at the asshole who ran into him.

Oh right.  _ This _ was the reason he was having a shitty day.

Because that was the last of his spending cash and now he had no coffee. Instead the delicious brown ambrosia was soaking into his clothes and burning his skin. There was an “ah shit” from the blind asshole as the guy (why was he wearing a lab coat? Fucking weirdo) stumbled back and clutched at his chest, face scrunched up in pain. Rick growled, he would show this guy something to be in pain about.

“W-what the fuck asshole,” Rick snapped. “You owe me another coffee you dick.  Look what you did!” He thrust his hand into the bewildered man’s face. It was red, angry, burnt, and would clearly be hurting for a few days. And since Rick relied greatly on the use of his hands (not just to build shit mind you. Hands were an important part of a horny teenage boy’s life) he was very very pissed. There was also the fact that he now had no coffee, “You better fucking pay for this dickwad!” The man had a glazed over dumb look slapped across his face, and Rick’s temper flared. “Are you even listening asshole?!” He was not.

“Hey cunt! Listen to me when I’m talking to yoooUuu!” He let out a loud belch.

Behind him Shane clicked their tongue, “Oi, Rick. Pipe it down will ‘ya? You’re gonna scare off all my customers.” Through Rick’s rage he noticed that the stranger’s body had tensed up at the mention of his name. Did this asshole  _ know _ him? He felt his suspicion spike as he fought the urge reared back in defence.

Instead Rick turned his gaze onto the aggravating face of the shop keeper, who had one brow raised in challenge. “Well what am I-I-I-I supposed to do S-shane? Let this dick get away with burning my hand AND ruining m-my perfectly good coffee?”

The coffee shop owner just snorted and rolled their eyes clearly done with the morning drama, “Common Rick. I’ll just get you another cup. On the house.” Rick felt irritated at the somewhat condescending tone, as if Shane were speaking to a troublesome child instead of the hot latino genius Rick actually was (okay, maybe one of those things were a bit exaggerated). He scowled.

“ _ Fine, _ ” he said with a roll of his own eyes then added, “But this dick’s still got some explaining to do.” He turned back to Lab Coat. “Hey. Look at me.”

Rick was surprised when, at his command, the man’s face immediately snapped up to look at him. The first thing the teen noticed was,  _ damn this guy’s kinda cute.  _ With his button nose and large brown eyes. And though it was a rather gaudy color, the yellow and gray turtleneck sweater really suited the stranger.

However, no matter how cute the stranger was, he was also staring at Rick with a very strange expression. Eyes blown wide in surprise and was that…  _ fear? _ Recognition? The teen couldn’t place it. A shiver ran up his spine.

“Hey asshole. Are you fucking braindead or something?” No response. Rick turned back to the counter, “Shane I think he’s brain dead.”

The owner shrugged nonchalantly, “If you broke him then you’re taking the blame for it. Just dispose of the body away from my shop.”  _ So heartless. _

There was a yellow movement in the corner of Rick’s eye and he turned to see the man suddenly snap forward. His body shaking as he stared longingly into Rick’s own eyes. The teen was immediately uncomfortable.

There was a shaky breath as the man quivered out one word.

“...Rick?” Rick’s eyes widened and his breath caught. There was no way this man didn’t know him. Suspicion gripped at his throat with a vengeance.

“... who’s ask’in,” he snapped defensively. Was it the cops? Is this guy with those assholes he may or may not have ripped off a few weeks back? It wasn’t as if Rick was unknown around these areas. His inventions had actually garnered him quite a reputation along with his foul mouth and violent streak.

“I-I…” the man stuttered then tensed up when a strange sound came from outside. Rick blinked in surprise.

“What the fuuUUuck was that?” He exclaimed. Shane behind him paused in the middle of drying a mug and also looked up questioning. Rick and them shared a look and he turned back to face Lab Coat.

Only to see the man moving to leave, looking frantic and in a rush.

“Hey a-asshole! I-I-I wasn’t done with you!!” Rick growled reaching out and clasping the stranger’s wrist in a death grip. “W-who the fuck are you and how do you know my name?!”

“I-I’m sorry, I’ve got-got to g-g-go,” the man stuttered out attempting to pull his arm away. Rick was surprised at how strong those lanky looking limbs were. He tightened his grip further.

“Dude, s-stop fucking struggling. You’re not leaving until you give me an explanation and pay for my fucking coffee!”

Rick is blindsided when the man suddenly pushes him in the chest, surprising the teen. He hadn’t been expecting the attack and was unprepared for the sudden blow. His landed on his ass with a hiss and glared up furiously at the sight of Lab Coat plowing his way frantically out of the coffee shop.

“Shit Rick, are you okay?” Shane called out from behind the counter concerned.

He responded with a growled, “I’m fine” then surged up to his feet in a flash and charged after the asshole that ruined his morning. Cuppa Morning’s owner sighed when the teen disappeared out of the door. They glanced down at the spilled coffee all over their concrete floor and sighed again.

“Something tells me this is only the beginning,” they mutter to themself resignedly grabbing a broom. They waved off their other customers’ bewildered glances while beginning to clean up the mess. “That boy is going to be the death of me.”

~*~

Morty was beginning to hyperventilate again. The adrenaline rush from running from hounds earlier (and again now if that roar was any indication) coupled with the fact that HOLY SHIT THAT WAS RICKRICKRICKRICK was not boding well for the young scientist. His mind felt like it was on a loop and he could not get over the fact that he had  _ just seen Rick. _

Albeit a younger Rick, but a Rick nonetheless.

Morty had spent that last several years avoiding all Ricks and only having a run-in every once in awhile. The Council of Ricks was not happy to learn that a rogue Morty had been running around doing a Rick’s job, and it was just better for his continued freedom and psyche if he just avoided them altogether. He, at most, had only ever encountered two Ricks and those happened to be very different Ricks from vastly different dimensions. They weren’t  _ his Rick,  _ because try as he had (and he  _ had  _ tried so hard to save his grandpa but it had failed)  _ his  _ Rick was still stuck in the most highly guarded Federation prison in the multiverse. Impregnatable.

But a Rick so close in dimension to his own Rick? So young? So  _ familiar?  _ Morty’s mind was having trouble coping with the sudden appearance. His mind had been somewhere far away and hysterical when he first heard the sound of the hounds roaring as they caught his scent. His body had reacted much earlier than his brain could register the sound and had acted by throwing himself away from his grandfather’s younger doppleganger ( _ omg omg omg he just saw Rick!!!)  _ then absconding out the store.

Information was catching up to him now though as he raced down New York’s sidewalks (people cursing at him when the young man rudely pushed his way past them). The most important piece of information was that, despite his hysteria over his (unresolved and festering) psychological issues at seeing his grandpa again (so young…), he was in a shit load of trouble. Morty should’ve created new portals and left as soon as he arrived here. Instead he gave the hounds a chance to catch up to him.

“F-fuck,” he cursed under his breath as he sharply changed his direction and pulled into a dark alley. A couple of shady fingers were gathered in the alley in what was clearly some illegal dealings. They straightened up abruptly at Morty’s sudden appearance.

“Who the fuck are you?” One of them growled menacingly, he took a intimidating step forwards as the rest of them got into defensive poses, fingers dipped into hidden spaces of their clothing to grab at concealed weapons.

Unlucky for them Morty didn’t have the time to mess around. In a quick motion he flicked out a stunner from his pocket and neatly shot all four of them in bursts of blue light (including the young petrified buyer who stood there frozen with fear). With only a single stumble the scientist swapped the stunner for his trusty portal gun.

“AaAAASsssshooolle!”

Morty felt the air knock out of his lungs with he’s blindsided by a push to his back. He stumbled but luckily managed to catch himself from falling. Unluckily his grip had loosened and the sensitive portal gun fell to the dirty alley ground with a clatter. Morty hissed out in pain and clutched his chest as he felt the blow jostle his broken rib.

“And where do you think y-y-y-y-you’re going!” Came a familiar -pissed- voice, “I-I told you already asshole y-you owe me-” A deafening pause. “What the fuuUUuuck happened here?!”

Rick assessed the scene before him in shock, keen eyes carefully cataloging every little detail. Lab Coat was standing clutching his side like some pathetic wimp and a little further ahead in the alley way were several full grown men that the teen recognized from one of the resident gangs, Rippers, lying on the ground unconscious. He would’ve thought they were dead if not for the subtle rise and fall of their chests. Rick went back to observing Turtleneck who looked way too lanky to have taken down all those mean motherfuckers.

“What the fuck did you do?” Rick asked in shock.

“O-ouch,” Morty moaned pathetically in pain. He really regretted not prioritizing his wound now. All this movement was making the break worse. So instead of offering his teenage grandfather an answer Morty moved to pick up his portal gun.

Rick caught the movement and his eyes widened when he saw the older man reaching for what looked like it could pass off as a gun (a really lame looking one though). Almost without his consent, the teen moved forwards and clasped the man’s wrist in an iron hard grip. “Fff-f-fuck dude, did you SHOOT these motherfuckers?” He eyed the group of unconscious (dead?) men.

Morty was conflicted, for the first time in a long time the man was unsure of himself. Unsure of what to do. His eyes flicked to the youthful hand keeping his arm hostage and a strange feeling bubbled up in his chest. Here was Rick staring at him with such intense gray eyes. And there stood Morty, twenty-five and feeling like he was fifteen again. Just an estranged young teenager whisked away by a terrible,  _ wonderful _ , man on great,  _ terrible _ , adventures, not knowing what was in store for him.

Morty opened his mouth, uncertain of what was going to come out of it, when a roar interrupted the one-sided moment.

“Fuck,” was the only thing that came out instead. Morty ripped his arm from his grandfather’s grasp and snatched up the portal gun. He ignored Rick’s enraged protest at the sudden movement and shot open five portals in quick succession.

Rick was stunned into silence.

“Wha-”

There it was. Right before his eyes. There was no denying the very proof swirling on the grimy brick wall, a sight that had haunted and teased him in is dreams for ages now. The teen genius was bewildered, and feeling slightly affronted, because that man, this  _ stranger  _ who had pissed (intrigued) Rick off faster in thirty seconds than most people could in a lifetime had just casually willed into existence what Rick could only dream of making.

Those green swirling vortexes were undeniably the very portals through space that Rick had envisioned countless times. A dream, seemingly so far off, were now right before his naked bare eyes.

“How-”

Another roar jolted the stranger, who had been giving Rick a very particular look, out of whatever trance he was in. Lab Coat cursed under his breath and his brown eyes flicked over to Rick with uncertainty, then switching back to the entrance of the alley way where the sounds of roars were growing louder. Whatever was responsible for the noise was also scaring the shit out of the pedestrians because the screams of people and the pounding of feet could also be heard from the road.

Morty groaned, knowing exactly what he needed to do. He didn’t have to be happy about it but he doubted that he’ll ever get another guilt-free night of sleep if he didn’t do this. He’ll regret it if he left those hounds to find Rick, and they will without a doubt find him and rip him to shreds. So without hesitation, before he could change his mind, Morty tugged the stunned boy-version of his grandfather behind him and through a random swirling portal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter was supposed to be… A lot longer than this. But it’s been dragging forever (so difficult to write lol) and I haven’t updated this story in forever so I’m just gonna cut it here and hope I’ll get the next chapter out faster.
> 
> Sorry this took sooooooooo long. I haven’t had much inspiration for this story and I’ve been much more focused on my main story Hold Me Tight and Don’t Let Go, which I would be really ecstatic is anyone wanted to check out. It’s an SIOC insert as Dudley. The chapters for that story tend to be long, averaging around 10k per chapter. There are only five chapters right now, but that’s still like 200 pages of a normal book. I’d be really happy if you checked it out!
> 
> Anyways, please tell me what you thought of this chapter! Was it believable? The reactions between Rick and Morty? Any mistakes you can spot? Just wanted to say hi? I appreciate any and all comments, they let me know that you’re here and you’re reading and you like what you’re reading! Even if it’s just a one word comment, I’ll still treasure it. They all give me motivation to write. :3
> 
> Thank you for reading! Don’t forget to kudo. <3
> 
> -The Firecrest
> 
> (Also FUCKING SEASON THREE OMG MY LORD MY GOD RICK SHITSHITSHIT I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY IN MY LIFE THANKYOUAPRILFOOLS BEST APRIL FIRST EVEEEEEERRRRRRR)  
> Also story is now DEFINITLY non-canon compliant. At least I got some things right... Like the pills... and Beth's alcoholism lol


	3. what (the fuck) are thooooooooooose!!!!

They were somewhere in the middle of an alien field. Morty cursed his luck as he released the petrified Rick. Open field was not a good place to end up with those hounds after them. What’s worse was that the portal gun was starting to run out of juice.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck fuckfuckfuckfuck…” 

Rick looked around bewildered, whipping his head side to side as he tried to process the sudden change in scenery. A choked “w-what…” bubbled up in his throat as the teen genius’s brain worked in over time trying to catch up with the sudden influx of information. It was all very disorientating. One moment he and Lab Coat were in a dark and dank alley and suddenly they were in a very open field and  _ holy fuck the sky is purple and there are three moons. _

“S-shit!” Turtleneck cursed from behind. Rick was still in the process of trying to figure everything out when the stranger grabbed his wrist again and peered into his eyes with stern brown ones, blown wide with panic. “Rick, w-w-we have to start running. L-L-like  _ now _ .” And without waiting for a response the terrifying stranger was pulling him into a breakneck sprint.

Rick thanked every god he didn’t believe in for blessing him with long ass legs, because lord knows he doesn’t exercise for shit. Lab Coat must do this often because the pace he set was rather strenuous and he was doing a pretty good job at running, while Rick was only struggling slightly to keep up. He vowed to design some leg enhancers if only to save his poor muscles from utter destruction.

A loud roar ripped through the air behind them. Rick whipped his head around and caught sight of three disgusting hulks of beast, gray-green scales reflecting dully in the foreign sun’s rays, and large ripped muscles pumping the terrifying creatures forwards, hot on their tail.

Rick’s eyes bulged, “What the fuck are THOSE?!”

“Just keep running!”

Morty searched widely ahead of their path, looking for anything that could be used to escape the beasts. Judging by the light levels emitted by the green bulb of the portal gun, he had maybe six more good shots left in the thing. Morty  _ really  _ should’ve portaled back to base when he got the chance.

And with the hounds so close it would be impossible to lose them through a portal, their only hope was to kill them somehow.

Morty’s makeshift blaster wasn’t powerful enough to down one of those experimental monstrosities either. The man’s brain raced with plans, discarding ideas almost as soon as they were conceived, the situation seemed dire.

Morty refused to go back to his prison.

“-douche bag! HEY DOUCHE BAG!”

Morty was dragged violently out of his thoughts when his reluctant companion shouted into his ear loudly. The man staggered in his step at the sudden noise, panic briefly flaring as he imagined tripping, but managed to recover his step and continue his sprint across the field, lizard men hot on his heels.

“F-fuck!” Morty cursed and turned a burning glare onto Rick, “Don’t fucking do that! You scared me!”

Rick watched the stranger incredulously, mouth falling open in disbelief. “I-I- Me?! I scared  _ you _ ?! What about you y-you fucking coffee murdering piece of shit?!  _ You’re  _ the one w-w-who dragged  _ ME  _ here numbnuts! I can’t fucking believe this bullshit!”

“W-well no one fucking asked you to follow mmm-m-me shit-for-brains!” Morty retorted, breath haggard as he lept over a blue spotted rock. “If y-you had just minded your own fucking business you wouldn’t fucking  _ be here!  _ A-a-a-and I wouldn’t have to fucking deal with saving your ass!”

“Saving my ass?! You fucking slaughtered my sweet ambrosia ass fucker! Like hell was I-I-I-I gonna let any old Turtle Neck pisscunt run off without proper payment! What the fuck are you wearing anyways?!”

“We’re running from murderous lizard beasts and you’re questioning my  _ clothing choices?!” _

“Well if you weren’t wearing such  _ questionable clothing-” _

A loud roar, too close for comfort, snapped the two out of their ill-timed argument. Morty let out a shriek (it was a **shout** _,_ men like Morty don’t shriek) of alarm when a hound leaped forwards, wicked claws extended, straight for Rick.

“Shit! Move!”

Morty reacted on instinct, pushing his grandpa (not-grandpa) out of the way and pulling out his blaster, firing a pink explosion point-blank into the hound’s gaping maw. The beast recoiled in pain, a high pitched whine resounding in the open area, twisting its body as it fell back. 

Morty fell to his side and nearly froze at the sudden stab of pain from his broken rib, before adrenaline kicked up into a higher gear and he rolled to his feet and continued his escape, snatching up Rick’s arm in the process pulling the teen with him.

“Holy fuck!” Rick cried out when Lab Coat pulled him along after just saving him from what probably would’ve been his death-by-lizard-men.

“We need to get out of here!” Morty shouted back to him, breath labored with pain.

Knowing that they weren’t likely to lose the hounds with them this close Morty imputed the first logical place he could think of shot open a single portal onto the ground before them.

“Fuck fuck fuck! I’m not fucking ready for this!” Rick shouted at the sudden appearance of a portal as the stranger pulled him down into the swirling green vortex.

~*~

The first thing Rick noticed when the initial disorientation of going through the portal passed (a sudden change in temperature, air constitution, and atmospheric pressure did not bode well for his biological senses) was the sudden influx of noises. Bright colors and heavy movement flow filled his vision (they were in some sort of crowded… Market?) and for a moment he panicked as he tried to spot the only familiar thing and his only ticket home.

He didn’t look very long because Lab Coat appeared in his space not a moment later and was wordlessly dragging the teen along again, pushing through the thick crowd of… Creatures? Aliens? Rick had absolutely no idea, but he had never seen such bizarre forms of life before. Surrounding him completely were organisms of all shapes and sizes, ranging from all shades of the rainbow, to blind or countless eyes, to wicked looking appendages, some of which looked rather suggestive if Rick was being perfectly honest. His curiosity peaked, nearly forgetting that he was on the run from monsters that probably definitely wanted to eat him for lunch, or at the very least displace his innards.

And Rick liked his innards inside just fine, thank you very much.

Still, what he wouldn’t give to just stop and examine this completely new world suddenly made available to him. The teen eyes the strange man pulling him briskly through the heavy crowd, and wondered exactly who this stranger was to live such a life that would allow him access to entire worlds like this. Worlds that Rick could only dream of before now.

Sounds of alarm started to sound from behind them as the alien-creature-things started to let out distressed noises. Something was parting the crowds behind them and approaching fast. A large scaly snout poked out above the now rushing and panicking mob.

A rough tug pulled Rick close as Turtle Neck leaned his face close to Rick’s. He hissed beneath his breath, “K-keep your head down low.”

Rick didn’t need to be told twice.

The pair maneuvered swiftly through the rushing aliens, Rick mostly blindly following Lab Coat’s lead. He was dragged into a building.

Noise of the now stampeding crowd outside dimmed to a low white noise and Rick was finally released, he took the moment to examine his surroundings.

“Holy shit…”

It was some kind of herbalist shop, with strange looking plants hanging from shelves on near the ceiling and all assortments of dried fauna stored in colorful glass jars. The place smelled dry and strongly of herbs, with hints of musky sweetness and sharp tangs of bitterness mixing together. But the most shocking thing in the room were the jars near the back of the store, behind the counter.

Jars containing what definitely looked like preserved human babies.

Rick swallowed sharply, fear that was starting to fade came back with a vengeance as he noticed a sudden movement of yellow behind the counter.

Morty approached the counter as soon as he dragged his grandpa into the apothecary and immediately narrowed his eyes at the Korblock cowering behind the desk. He stepped up and slammed his hand down on the hard surface causing the giant alien to start in shock.

“Blim Blam,” he snapped. “I thought I made it very clear what I thought- I-I thought about…” Morty glared at the jars of human children on the wall, “... this.”

The alien stood up shuffled nervously in the way only a hulking yellow blob could. His mouth danglers wiggled and slapped against each other anxiously as Blim Blam regarded his  _ acquaintance _ . “Smith…” his universal translator toned above the gurgling and squelching noises of his native tongue. “I should’ve known you had something to do with this. Business is going to be slow for weeks now, not with those fucking Hounds hanging around.”

Morty frowned still eyeing the jars behind the Korblock, “We’re going to tal-talk about this later Blim Blam, but I’ve got more ah -- more pressing issues to deal with right now.” The mob would slow the hounds down for a little while and severely stunt their sense of smell, but not forever. “I’m calling in my favor.”

The purple rings around the Korblock’s eyes widened in an expression of disbelief the same time the fleshy lump above his right eye raised. “Favor? You called in your favor months ago Smith, I owe you nothing.”

“Don’t fuck around with m-mm-me you fat lump of Bepisian shit,” Morty snapped. “I-if I-I-I recall correctly that last delivery with the Blooptards would’ve gone to fuckall if I hadn’t stepped in. You’re lucky to still have your head Blim  Blam. Now I’m  _ calling in my favor. _ ”

Blim Blam narrowed his eyes, then sighed. “Fine. What do you need? And make it quick, I don’t want to caught with you by those hounds.”

“Three mega grams of Shashfurg power and your silence.”

The Korblock grumbled beneath his breath as he slid to the shelves on the back wall and began hastily muddling through his collection of fine herbal powders. “ _ Shit’s fucking expensive,”  _ he gurgled in his native dialect. The amount of blimflarks he was going to lose because of this fucking human was insane. Shashfurg isn’t a cheap substance either, with scarce plants growing in only the furthest and coldest dwarf planets of the Shmebulock system.

The shit also stank.

“Well there you go,” the Korblock muttered, tossing the encased bag of white powder onto the counter. He settled the human with a serious glare, “but this is the last time Smith. No more favors after this.” Honestly though, what was it about the Smith family (and their mad predecessor) that just seemed to attract chaos wherever they went. Blim Blam couldn’t even count the sheer amount of times they’ve fucked with his life.

Morty picked up the bag and examined the contents, giving a noise of approval and sliding it into his coat pocket. “Pleasure doing business with you Blim Blam.”

The alien rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah. Just get the fuck out of my shop please and don’t forget your friend-”

The Korblock paused, feeling a sense of foreboding rise up in his three respiratory cavities as he caught sight of the familiar face of Smith’s companion. His long healed scars began acting up, itching at him and reminding him of those long-forgotten weeks trapped in perpetual darkness, victim to a madman’s cruel intentions.

Rick noticed the giant alien’s heavy gaze on him, he looked up annoyed but also slightly intimidated. “What are you staring at asshole.”

Immediately Blim Blam shifted his back to Morty. “You’re traveling with a  _ Rick Sanchez _ ?” He demanded, red eyes dark. Smith he’ll deal with because the young human was actually a surprisingly decent person considering his fucked up parental units (Blim Blam still had awful memories of that couple) and role models, but Rick?

The Korblock didn’t deal with Ricks.

Morty sensed the shift in atmosphere in the room and tensed up. He regarded the Korblock carefully, “Just remember Blim Blam. N-n-not a damn word out of your danglers.”

“What the shit?” Rick hissed, “How the fuck does balls-for-mouth know my name? Actually, w-while I-I-I’m on the fucking topic, how the fuck do y-you- _ you  _ know my name anyways?”

Morty sighed and ignored the teen, instead turning to the Korblockian behind the counter and returned his glare for every degree of heat. “ _ Not. A. Word.” _

“Just get the fuck out of my shop Smith,” Blim Blam growled low. “I don’t ever want to catch you here again. Especially not with the likes of him.” A fat meaty purple tipped finger pointed accusingly at Rick.

“Ew fuck, go point your dick fingers elsewhere creep,” Rick snapped.

“Rick. Please shut- shut up and let’s go,” Morty sighed exasperated, opening and holding the door to the back of the shop open. “A-a-and hurry up alright?” The sounds of the mob were softer now, meaning it wouldn’t be long before the hounds tracked them down.

Rick replied with a scathing insult but followed Lab Coat anyways. The door slammed shut behind them.

~*~

The two ran for a good ten minutes before Morty pulled them into an abandoned stand and demanded that Rick strip.

“Excuse me?!” Rick said.

Once again Morty sighed in exasperation, “I just need a -- a f-fucking article of clothing. Your jacket will do.”

“Fuck no!” There was no way Rick was going to give up his baby. He  _ loved  _ his jacket.

“D-dammit Rick! We- w-we don’t have fucking time for this! Just give me the damn jacket!”

“Over my dead body!”

“I-it  _ will  _ be your dead body if you-you-you don’t give me  _ something _ !”

Rick looked down and fingered the soft inner wool lining of his leather jacket, heart torn. He really did love the jacket. But he also liked fucking being alive too.

“So what then?” Rick spoke again, “I give you the jacket and what? You sprinkle that stanky dust shit all over it and lead those fugly ass lizard men off our trail?”

Sometimes, Morty thought, he forgets how smart Rick actually was. It has been a decade since he properly talked to a Rick afterall. A sad smile found its way onto his lips without permission before Morty banished it and shook his head.

“Pretty much.” 

Rick was silent again, looking longingly down at the jacket. It was the obvious choice, easy and quick but… The teen couldn’t bear to part with it. He groaned as he realized what he’ll have to do, “Any article of clothing will do- do then right?”

Lab Coat shrugged looking exasperated, “Je-jeez just hurry up.”

Rick flipped him the bird, pulled his jacket off and reached for the hem of his sweater. Then he paused, glaring over at Lab Coat. “Uh, some fucking privacy please?” The older man rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed, but humored Rick anyways and shuffled around so his back was facing the teen. The young genius huffed and continued to pull his shirt off. No way in hell he was parting with his baby.

The bout of uncharacteristic modesty reminded Morty that this really wasn’t his Rick, this wasn’t his grandpa, who would’ve stripped bare without a second thought to any onlookers and probably wouldn’t have had any qualms streaking butt naked through a preschool either. Crazy old man. It was humbling though, in a strange way, to have a Rick ask him -demand- to turn around so he could undress. Not that Morty didn’t understand, he himself had been very self conscious of his body at this Rick’s age.

There was movement in the corner of Morty’s eyes, and without meaning to he caught a glimpse of the teen’s bare torso. He immediately stifled a horrified gasp and averted his gaze, but the young scientist continued to covertly examine the boy from the corner of his vision.

Scattered across the length of the boy’s torso were splotches of discolored skin. Bruises of all shades and sizes decorated the shallow skin of his young grandpa. Old scars were also scattered here and there along with distinct small dark circles that Morty immediately identified as cigarette burns.

The Rick shifted, grabbing his jacket from the ground, pulled his arms through the sleeves, and zipped it up tight. But Morty couldn’t get the shocking image from out of his head, each clear mark of abuse burned into his retinas as something akin to a searing fire grew alit in his chest as red filled his vision.

“You can turn around now,” Rick grumbled to the strange man, who was looking rather tense for some undiscernible reason. “Here,” he tossed his blue sweater over to Lab Coat who attempted to catch it but still somehow fumbled with the fabric. Clutz.

Morty pulled a switchblade from his pocket and began making incisions in his lab coat where the sleeves met his shoulders, then pocketed the knife and ripped his left coat sleeve from his body.

“A-alright. I-I think we’re good,” the scientist said and shifted the bundle of discarded clothing under his left arm and wielded his portal gun with his other. “We-we’ve only got maybe five more good shots o-out of thi -- this thing so we’ve got to play it carefully. Listen to  _ everything I say. _ ” He shot open a new portal into the floor. He eyed his grandpa-not-grandpa, “Ready?”

Rick scrunched up his nose, hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets, “Yeah.”

“Alright. Then-th-then on my count we jump-”

“What’s your name anyways?”

Morty raised his left brow, annoyed at being interrupted right after instructing the teen to listen to his every order. But then again, this was a  _ Rick  _ afterall, so what did he expect? Morty noticed the genuine look of curiosity in those steel gray eyes though and felt his annoyance drift away.

A small half smile found it’s way onto the young scientist’s face, despite the pain in his rib and the dire situation. “I’m M-morty Smith, it’s nice t-t-to-to meet you Rick.”

The teen rolled his eyes, “Well my introduction is p-point-pointless then.” He moved towards the portal, “Let’s get going then Morty.”

Something about hearing a Rick say his name, to him, shook something deep inside Morty and he had to fight to keep a pained look of longing off his face. Fuck he missed his Rick so much. “Yeah…” He answered, “O-Oka-kay then, on three?”

“J-just get the fuck on with it Mooorty.”

“Fine fine. One… Two…”

“THREE!!” Rick shouted impulsively with a nasty laugh and leaped into the portal. A bewildered and exasperated Morty followed him into the green vortex not a second later.

~*~

“Yeah. They look a batch of Shashfurg… Yes, I have some right here.”

Blim Blam maneuvered himself to the back of the store and fetched his remaining stash of the white substance and presented it to the menacing looking Hound looming in his shop. The lizard creature look a deep whiff of the stuff and made a guttural growl to its companions which was returned with gusto. Then without another glance at the Korblock, the pack raced out of his apothecary.

Blim Blam made a satisfied clicking noise and moved to open of his jars of human delicacy, he deserved and extra special treat for all the shit he had to go through today.

_ “Sorry Morty Smith,”  _ Blim Blam gurgled to himself in his native tongue darkly.  _ “But I don’t deal with Rick Sanchezs.” _

Besides, it’ll probably be better for his health in the long run if he was rid of the Smith kid too. Nothing personal against Smith of course, but Blim Blam had his own interests to look after too.

Too bad for him, the Korblock would soon regret his decision to ever sabotage a Rick and Morty duo, one of the greatest forces in the universe to be reckoned with.

And Morty and Rick would come for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER WAS SO HARD TO WRITE!! :'(  
> Pretty much this was just a bit more world building and character development. I was hoping to make it twice as long and actually finishing up with those damn hounds, but no such luck. Ah well. I think generally each chapter will be around 3k words long as the trend seems to be so far. Not sure when the next update will be. But I'll get it up as soon as I'm done with it ;)
> 
> Please let me know if you spot any mistakes! Typos, grammar, etc... It would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> I also love comments! Those are also greatly appreciated so consider leaving one on your way out. I'll treasure it no matter how short or meaningless. Just let me know you exist! :D  
> And as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm super excited and impatient to get to all the mini adventures I have planned for them. I'm have so many planned and fleshed out already. But sadly I have to get past this beginning first lol. There's still a lot more setup to do before we get into the general flow of this story. :) And then only after that will the big overarching plot shit start to happen (which it kinda has already but won't make and appearance for a while after this whole beginning section). ;)
> 
> \-- The Firecrest


	4. Omake #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a universe where the force is real...

**_*Sometime in the distant future…*_ **

 

“Holy shit M-morty. Morty, are those fucking _jedi_?!”

 

“Yeah. But i-it’s not as cool as y-you -- you think Rick. They’re a bunch of we-weirdos, and if you try to talk to them they-they’ll just try and recruit you into-to their weird cult. Spouting some bullshit ab-ab-b-b-about some balance or something. The-they’re real hardcore Rick and pushy as hell too, don’t give them they c-ch-chance to talk to you Rick. O-ooh you-you-you’ll definitely regret it Rick…”

 

“Ah damn Morty. That -- That fucking sucks Morty. What the hell’s the p-point of running into Jedi if I can’t fucking talk t-t-t-t-to them? Way-wa-ay to blow this for me Morty fucking asshole.”

 

“Well jeez Ri-rick! Wha-what did you -- yo-you want me to tell you?”

 

“Well I don’t know Mooooorty! Why not start by not-not-not ruining fucking _jedis_ f-f-for me huh? Ever think of that Mooorty?! Do you have _any idea_ wh-what people would do to-to-to get an opportu-tunity like this Morty? Fucking anything. People would d-do fucking _anything_ to meet a jedi Morty, and you fucking ruined it for me! Thanks a lot asshole.”

 

“Je-jeeee-jeez Rick. You don’t have to be so harsh. Also, I didn’t know yo-you-you were a Star Wars buff…”

 

“Are you fucking kidding me Morty? Who -- Who _isn’t_ a Star Wars buff?”

 

“...”

 

“ _Oh. My. God._ Yo-you-you-you’ve got to be fucking kidding me right? Tell me you-you’re kidding Moooorrrty.”

 

“...”

 

“I ca-can’t believe this. I can’t believe what I-I’m hearing right now.”

 

“... I-i-I-I liked episode seven…”

 

“ _They made an episode_ **_seven_ **??!!!!!”

 

“... Yeah, and eight, and nine… And also I think a couple of spin offs…”

 

“...”

 

“... what?”

 

“Mo-mo-morty. Listen very carefully to me.”

 

“Uhhh…. OK?”

 

“I -- I need you to… I need you to **take me to your time. Right. Now.** ”

 

“A-a-aw jeez Rick… Right now…?”

 

“Yes Morty. Mo-morty it needs to be right. Now.”

  


And so Morty and Rick spent the next day and a half binge watching all nine Star wars episodes and all it's spin offs, in which Rick hated the prequels, Morty found a new appreciation for the franchise, Rey became their smol precious child, Poe as Rick’s newest crush, Bodhi was also a smol precious flower child, and Rogue One declared the best Star Wars movie ever made.

 

And also Rick secretly plotted to find pre-prequels George Lucas and threaten the bastard at gun point to never create the monstrosity that is Jar Jar Binks.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if ya'll thought this was a real chapter lol.  
> But I wrote this because the new trailer came out today and fuck damn. I'm so excited for The Last Jedi. Anyone else???  
> Also I took some liberations with the SW movie release timeline since at the very most, Rick would've only been able to see A New Hope. So I made it that he was able to see all the three originals though that would be impossible with the timeline I set.
> 
> I think I'll just do a couple of these little Omakes every now and then. It kinda helps me work out and practice Rick and Morty's dialogue too. :)  
> I hope you liked it!
> 
> \-- The Firecrest


	5. row row row your boat gently down the stream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fire people. Water rides. And things get a bit emotional.

“Holy shit  _ m-MOVE  _ you dumbass!”

Morty grunted as his side slammed into the wall harshly, the crumbling bricks shook from the impact and a few jogged loose and tumbled down from above. He cursed and quickly whirled out of the way despite the pain from his broken rib. Meanwhile, Rick ahead came to a full stop before turning around to help him (not from any sympathy of course, the dude was just his ride home).

Ironically the pair weren’t running from the Hounds this time. Instead, after dropping their shashfurg covered clothes down one portal (portal #2), jumping into a random one (portal #3) where they plunged into an ocean, then jumping into one final one (portal #4) in which the residence of this fire-based society did not appreciate the sudden burst of seawater flooding their town, so they were now running from angry flame people.

“Shit shit shit,” Morty cursed and he clutched his side in agony, rib digging into his muscle and shooting pain up his torso. In his moment of pain-hazed distraction a particularly vicious flame creature jumped at him shooting bullets of fire. Rick suddenly appeared at Morty’s side and grabbed his arm, quickly tugging his away from the sudden burst of flames. The two of them turned a corner into an alleyway and kept running.

“S-so what the fuck are these s-shitty things?” Rick shouted over the roar of angry fire people.

Morty winced at the pain and shot his not-grandpa a disbelieving look of ‘a _ re you serious? Is this really the best time _ ?’ but answered anyways. “Heliomrites. Highly provokable. Highly dangerous- FUCK!” A burst of heat came from above them as a female Heliomrite leaped down from the third floor and began shooting several small bursts at them. Morty dodged and pushed Rick out of the way before they kept running.

“Don’t y-y-y-you have a gun or something?!”

“You want me to  _ shoot  _ at beings made of lit-liter-literal fire?!”

“Then fucking OPEN A PORTAL and get us OUT OF HERE!”

“Do you  _ want  _ those Hounds in your neighborhood R-rick!?”

Of course, if Morty had just remembered to bring his freeze ray this wouldn’t have been a problem. But because of fucking  _ Paachi  _ that didn’t happen. Morty swore he was going to get that sonovabitch back tenfold. Paachi can fucking kiss his smuggling business goodbye with his three mouths because Morty was going to  _ tear it down and send it straight to fiery hell. _

As they ran Rick noticed something blue in this distance, his heart jumped in excitment. “Yo look! Is that water?!”

Morty glanced up in the direction Rick was staring in and lo-and-behold there was a river running beneath an enclosed bridge. High walls rising up around the rushing river were probably to keep citizens from falling to a watery doom.

Morty’s mind raced with scenarios as he appraised the glass, and to his delight they didn’t appear strong enough to withstand a strong blast from his crudely put together blaster. The only problem would be that it would take a  _ very  _ powerful shot from the gun, one the gun probably wouldn’t survive through. Of course, it was either that or a fiery death so Morty quickly made the correct choice.

“A-alright Rick. We-we-we’re gonna-gonna have to jump okay?” Morty said pulling out his blaster.

“J-just shut the fuck up and  _ shoot already motherfucker.” _

Ignoring the familiar assholeness from Rick, Morty set the pistol to its highest most unstable setting, took aim, and fired off a large pink blast.

There was a collective gasp from the Heliomrites both chasing after them and the pedestrians in the area as the blast hit the barrier. Glass shattered spectacularly on impact and the moment of distraction was just enough time of Morty and Rick to leap through the forcefully made exit and brace for impact.

They hit the water and Morty almost reflectively inhaled from the sudden blunt trauma to his wound, only sheer willpower kept him from drowning himself in that moment. Pushing through the pain Morty kicked his legs and brought himself to the surface, looking up to see the menacing faces of the Heliomrites glaring down at them but otherwise not making a move to advance.

“ _ Je-jes-COUGH-jesus christ!” _

Morty turned around just as Rick surfaced, red faced and sputtering. The teen shook out his hair sending water splashing everywhere. He looked absolutely miserable. Rick then looked up at where the Heliomrites were gawking down at them and sneered viciously.

“Yeah  _ fuck you dickwads!  _ Suck this!”

Rick tried his best to make obscene hip thrusts in the water sloshing it around and Morty fought the urge to sigh.

“A-a-alright Rick, l-let’s go. We’ve gotta go di-di-down river.”

The teen paused in his mocking and looked at Morty incredulously, “What? Why? Don’t you have t-that fucking portal device?”

Morty shook his head, “W-we’ve gotta get away from this area. There’s only enough juice for o-o-one portal so we should get a-as far-far-far away as possible. Hopefully these fuckers can’t follow us.”

Rick groaned.

“Stop complaining and let’s go.”

~*~

Nearly two hours of drifting later the river opened up onto a beach where the two exhausted scientists finally stumbled out of the water soaking wet and pruned. Rick was the first to collapse down into the sand relieved to be back on solid ground.

“I’m never ever taking another fucking bath again.”

Morty didn’t answer, too busy wringing out his soaked through coat, slowly dragging his feet through the sand. He sat down next to the collapsed teen. They stayed there in silence for several minutes, just taking time to  recover a bit from the long journey.

Rick broke the silence. “So why the fuck is the sun still up?”

Morty glanced up at the sky and the two huge flaming balls of gas glaring down at them then shrugged. “It’s this system, twin stars makes fo-for good breeding conditions for Heliomrites.”

They fell into muteness again, only the sound of Morty systematically wringing out each article of clothing to break it. Eventually even that was finished and the older man decided that it was about time to go.

“O-okay. I-I think it’s pretty safe to leave now,” he said. “We just need to make a q-q-quick stop at my lab and I’ll bring you home.”

Rick seemed to perk up at this. This had been a hectic day, never in all of his seventeen years had he ever imagined something like this would happen. All the different planets he had been to in just the past six hours and this strange man that swept him off on this adventure. Now he was going to get a look at where this dude worked. It seemed all his dreams were coming true.

Actually… Did he even want to go back home? Was Earth ever “home” in the first place? Rick had always felt out of place being much smarter than the dumbass sheep surrounding him. School was bullshit and the bureaucracy of their politics were even worse. It wasn’t like his homelife was anything to brag about either. Fuck, and hadn't this always been his dream anyways? Him leaving behind that dusty fucking rock and exploring the stars. To find where he  _ truly  _ belonged?

“R-rick let’s go.”

The teen was distracted from his thoughts by the call and saw that Morty had opened up a portal, that swirling green vortex that had mesmerized Rick for years in his dreams. Shit. He really didn’t want to go back home.

Reluctantly the teen followed the strange and mysterious scientist into the portal and stepped out into a messy looking room rivalling his own with wires and machinery and notes everywhere. The portal audibly snapped shut behind them as Rick glanced around amazed at the tables full of gadgets. He stepped up to one workstation and picked up a couple of scattered papers on the table. His eyes widened.

“Holy shit dude, this is amazing!” He had never even considered half of what this guy had written down, it was genius. Rick swept around on his feet to look for Morty but stopped in his speech when he saw that the man was busy messing with something.

Morty gritted his teeth together and injected himself with healing serum calibrated to his genetic structure. There was a brief burst of pain as his bones and muscles realigned themselves and healed almost instantaneously. He sighed in relief as the discomfort that had been aching for hours now dissipated into nothing.

“What the fuck,” Rick exclaimed. “D-did that shit just heal you instantly?” He crossed the room on large strides, previous exhaustion forgotten.

“Uuuhh... yeah.” Morty said lamely as the teen practically tore the healing serum injector from his hands and intently examined it. “It’s not my invention but I-I-I mean it’s not too difficult to make. Just kinda hard to-t-t-to get some of the ingredients.” He thought back to that very first time Rick had injected him with the stuff on the mega seed planet. His grandpa had been a huge asshole.

“How does it work?”

Morty blinked in surprise. Because no matter how you look at it this was a  _ Rick  _ asking  _ him  _ a  _ Morty  _ how something worked, no mocking sarcasm included. It left him a little speechless.

“It’s ah… So it’s made up of a few billion nanomachines and they’re all ca-ca-calibrated with my genetics which they use to rebuild my body. Basically a-after they realign the bones and doing cleanup stuff they use a rapid cloning method to-” Morty paused looking up at the teen and feeling uncharacteristically self conscious.

But Rick was listening intently, eyes on Morty and giving him his full attention. “Well? Go on.”

Morty swallowed, “... a rapid cloning method to replicate the in-individual cells that were damaged or dead and s-seal up everything. Th-then they make their way to the intestinal tract and w-wait to be excreted.”

Rick nodded, no scathing answer and no mocking remark, and instead looked serious and contemplative as if actually taking in Morty’s words and considering them carefully.

“S-so anyways,” Morty coughed after several moments of silence. “I should probably get you home now.”

Rick’s head snapped up, steely grey eyes wide, “I-” His mouth snapped shut, the teen suddenly feeling dreadful. What if Morty didn’t want him to come along. Jesus fucking christ he didn’t want to go back, he really didn’t want to go back to that  _ motherfucker- _

“Here catch.”

The teen automatically caught the item tossed to him with his free hand and looked up at Morty in question.

Morty took in the look and explained, “Point to yourself a-and-and press the green button.”

Not even going to question the guy at this point (because honestly, if Turtle Neck really wanted to kill him, he had ample opportunity to do it before now) Rick did as directed and sighed in relief when the thing magically sucked all the moisture from his clothes, essentially dry cleaning them within seconds. Also there was gratefulness when his beloved jacket was suddenly dry and not being damaged by over exposure to water.

“Alright then, let me just grab some of this…” Morty muttered to himself.

He walked over to a compartment and pressed his hand against the scanner. It beeped in confirmation and opened revealing a spare portal gun. Morty always kept at least one in each of his bases, but removed them if he was ever being followed, like now. Until he made sure this location was secure he wasn’t going to leave a spare gun here for a long time.

Morty quickly disposed of his empty gun, via incineration, and used his new one to open up a portal back to 1979 C-130 New York. He quickly grabbed a  _ good  _ blaster and a freeze ray, and just a bunch of weapons and miscellaneous objects, and stuck them into a dimensional container ( _ it’s bigger on the inside _ ). Once ready he turned to the young version of Rick.

“Okay, let’s go.”

But Rick just stood there looking at him with such a  _ strange  _ expression in his eyes, one that immediately made Morty feel uncomfortable. It was too  _ open  _ and  _ vulnerable  _ for a Rick, in a way not even when his own Rick when drunk showed. It was a steady reminder that this wasn’t his Rick, this was some poor kid he dragged off on this terrible adventure and probably traumatized the young thing. Jesus, this Rick was just a  _ kid. _

“W-wha-what wrong?” Morty said though he was almost afraid to ask.

He didn’t expect the reply he got.

“Can I stay with you?”

Morty blinked.

“Please man, d-don’t fucking send me back  _ there. _ Just let me come with you dude, haven’t I been helpful today? I can help you. I can  _ learn.  _ Just please fucking let me come with you!”

And jesus didn’t this remind Morty of himself only a decade ago (though it felt like a lifetime past), all insecure and fearful.  _ Young _ . Afraid that he would lose Rick (he  _ did  _ lose Rick). The words pierced through his chest painfully, a throbbing that reminded him of his recently healed rib even though it was definitely not broken anymore. And he just  _ wanted it to stop. _

“No no no. I-I-I’m sorry Rick, I-I can’t… You-you, you  _ can’t  _ come with me.”

Rick’s betrayed looking gaze hurt. “Why the fuck not! I’m telling you  _ I can be useful!  _ Please don’t send me back M-morty!”

“Y-y-you-you just ca-ca-can’t okay? It isn’t safe. You’ll be-be  _ safer  _ in your own dimension.”

At this response Rick’s eyes grew hard and angry.

“W-what the  _ FUCK  _ do you know about what’s safe for me?” Rick snarled, “You don’t know  _ shit  _ about m-mm-m-me or my life!  _ Please  _ I’m fucking  _ begging you, don’t  _ send me back.”

Morty shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to deal with this. Didn’t  _ have to  _ deal with this. He only brought the teen along to save his life, Morty didn’t  _ ask for this.  _ Didn’t want to ever get involved with another Rick again. It’s too much baggage involved, too much hurt.

“Well I don’t  _ want you  _ okay _? _ I don’t owe you a-a-anything R-r-rick! Now g-get in this fucking portal be-bef-f-fore I make you get in it!”

“ _ Please  _ M-M-Morty.  _ Please please  _ don’t send me back! I-I’m not moving an single shitty inch.”

Morty shook his head again, anger and feelings welling up that he just  _ wanted to forget. _ And in a fit of fury closed the portal behind him and was met with a sudden wash of relief visible in Rick’s eyes. Relief that was immediately wiped away by betrayal when Morty suddenly opened a portal beneath Rick’s feet and the young teen fell through before he could even shout in surprise.

The portal snapped shut and Morty immediately collapsed to the wall behind him, now both physically  _ and  _ emotionally exhausted. Guilt churned in his gut at what he just did. Rick C-130 had been not unlike himself when Morty was younger, but Morty also knew that he shouldn’t get involved with another Rick, shouldn’t meddle at all in another timeline so drastically. He likely wouldn’t ever see that Rick again, and the teen would grow old one day and have Beth and eventually have a Morty of his own. There was no room for C-137 Morty, and he couldn’t do that to a Rick, deprive him of his destiny.

Of course, even Morty could spot an excuse when he heard one. He just chose to ignore it.

~*~

Rick fell on his ass and heard the portal snap shut behind him. Panic and anger and a feeling of betrayal choked up his lungs. He quickly scrambled to his feet as soon as he got his bearings (back in that dingy alley but those thugs were all gone) and ran over to the brick wall placing his hands uselessly on it.

“Fuck. Fuck.  _ FUCK!” _

Rick beat a fist uselessly against the wall once and laid his forehead on his resignedly.

“You fucking asshole…”

The sounds of late night New York reached him from outside the alley and he cursed beneath his breath. Not only did that asshole dump his ass back on this lousy ass rock, but he left him here in the dead of night. If he didn’t get fucking mugged and killed by street thugs there’s no fucking doubt that the monster in his living room would finish him off for coming home so late.

Rick chuckled humorously. Home… Yeah fucking right. He thought he had won a one way ticket out of this shit hole but as always life has decided to fuck him up the ass and treat him like the little bitch he was.

Rick didn’t ever cry and he didn’t do it now either.

But  _ fuck  _ did he want to.

Resigned, the teen pushed off the wall and started to make his way “home”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, completely unbeta'd and not proof-read. If you spot mistakes please let me know in the comments below!  
> Also, I'm terribly sorry this took so long for something so short. No excuses, I've just had no inspiration.  
> Anyway, like always I hope you enjoyed. We've a few more chapters of set-up plot left before we get into the "adventures" and world-building portion of the story where the real plot will begin to rear it's head more.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> -The Firecrest


	6. revenge is a dish best served cold (and with murder)

Morty liked to think that since his traveling with Rick days that he had calmed his violence streak down a bit. Compared to his time on the purge planet for sure. It wasn’t even a comparison. Morty still felt sick just thinking about how ruthless he had been that single night. Compared to that night Morty had quelled much of his bloodlust.

That did not mean he was not bloodthirsty though.

One did not spend ample time with exposure to Rick Sanchez without coming away unscathed. Most of the time it was death, but on the off chance you lived then more than likely you’d come away a bit darker, a bit less caring, with a peculiar taste for pain.

Did Morty revel in the pain of others? Of course not. Not just _anyone_ of course.

But traitorous scumbags?

Yeah. Those guys Morty had no problem beating the shit out of. He had a special taste for their blood, it was soothing to his life-weary palette.

Morty stepped into the familiar facility of Paachi’s smuggling business. He’d spent a lot of time going over plans and jobs with the Prinkian in this place and he was pretty familiar with most of the alien’s workers. A few waved to him in greeting as he strolled casually by, furry purple claws raised in the air. Morty, not being one to be rude for no reason, waved back.

That at least answered one of his questions. Had his mission to that VAULT™ facility really been legitimate then Paachi’s smuggling hands would’ve known about it, and the fact that they didn’t raised a few alarm bells. They wouldn’t be so casually waving to him as if he hadn’t disappeared for an entire day and been hours late with the delivery. There would’ve been questions and concern, likely meant his whole mission had been covered up.

But Morty wanted to hear it from Paachi himself.

So he kept walking through the building calm and collected, offering smiles and greetings to those Prinkians he recognized, and made his way in the direction of Paachi’s office.

And to think, he helped that little bastard build this place up. Once just a smuggling business ran out of a tiny warehouse, less than fifteen men to his name, had now become a entire building and over 200 Prinkians strong. Morty tisked in displeasure, if Paachi did betray him then the Prinkian chose the wrong side.

Morty turned the corner and Paachi’s office came into view. The door was closed and his longtime bodyguard Toorni stood out front waiting. The abnormally large Prinkian was a deep purple in color with splotches of dark blue, almost black, sprinkled across his fur (in most Prinkian culture, that darker the fur the more viral, powerful and healthy).

Toorni wasn’t looking his way as Morty approached and finally did noticed him when the human was a mere few meters away. Morty didn’t miss the way the large Prinkian’s three mouths tightened at the corners, or the way his beady black eyes seemed to widen in panic. Nor did Morty miss the minute twitch of the alien’s hand towards the communicator at his side.

That was all the evidence Morty needed. Without warning he surged forwards, white coat billowing behind him. He swiftly pulled the blaster tucked into his back waistline and immediately, but silently, shoved the nose of the weapon into the mouth on Toorni’s belly. Toorni gagged at the sudden violence.

“I-I-I wouldn’t do that if I-I were you,” Morty warned softly but no less dangerous. “Keep you-your-your claws away from that comm.”

The bodyguard’s steadily inching hand halted. Toorni’s eyes shifted towards the office behind him, Morty followed his gaze and cocked his head.

“Is Paachi in there?”

When the Prinkian didn’t look like he wanted to answer, Morty pressed the blaster further into his mouth, blue saliva began gathering and started to drip down fur.

“I’ll a-ask again Toorni. Is Paachi in there?”

“Yes,” the Prinkian growled out low from his primary mouth. Morty smiled.

“Good,” the human said. “Now Toorni, we-we’ve known each other for a long time and I’d r-r-rather not kill you if I don’t have to but I’m going to h-have to have to talk with Paachi in that office for a little while.” He pause then added, “ _alone.”_

Toorni narrowed his black eyes at the much shorter human, abdominal mouth now aching around the biting metal, but he didn’t say anything. Morty saw this as an agreement and moved to pull his blaster out when the Prinkian’s arm suddely twitched violetly towards his communicator and pressed down on the button.

“Boss! Smith is here-”

The Prinkian didn’t get to finish his sentence because Morty had fired a fatal blast straight down Toorni’s gullet, gray blue blood spraying the door and the large body guard collapsed to the ground dead. Morty couldn’t hear anything through the soundproof walls and room of the office but he could hear distinctly panicked shuffling coming through the communicator on the now dead Prinkian.

 _“Toorni? Toorni?!”_ The panicked voice of Paachi buzzed through.

Morty coldly stepped over the cooling corpse and ripped the communicator from the dead alien’s belt and held it up to his mouth.

“T-toorni is dead,” the scientist said fridgedly. “I-I-I hope you-you’ve got a backup plan Paachi. You picked the wrong side.”

 _“Smith?”_ Came a shocked reply. _“I-”_ Whatever the smuggler had to say Morty didn’t hear because he had turned the communicator off.

Not a moment later he made quick work of the door, blasting off the hinges of the old fashioned design and kicking it down, only to catch sight of Paachi’s furry ass disappearing through the backdoor and several agents began shooting at Morty. The man immediately took cover behind the door while he fished out a vaporizing grenade from his pocket, chucking it into the room, and barely hearing the sounds of alarm before a bright blast signaled the vaporization of anything living in there.

He jumped over Toorni and ran into the room  past piles of smoking ash and did the same with this door as he did the last. He came into a hallway that stretched out in two different directions and groaned in annoyance. Morty fiddled with his wrist watch for a moment and finally found the setting he was looking for.

His form split into two identical Morty and both immediately took off in opposite direction, blasting down doors as they went. He had never been to this part of Paachi’s facility and was unfamiliar with the layout, but he knew they were close to the telipad.

When the Morty that had ran right came across the telipad room he pressed another button on his watch, teleporting his other self to him and merging the two bodies and memories. Then he burst into the room and saw Paachi frantically fiddling with the telipad controls. Morty angrily shot blast at the panel and it exploded in the Prinkian’s face.

Paachi let out a noise of alarm and frantically backed away from the now flaming telipad control panel but Morty was almost immediately there, sweeping a leg under the alien’s feet and the large beast toppled to the ground with a groan. The human aimed his blaster at the Prinkian’s chest, where his main heartbeat.

“E-end of the line Paachi,” Morty hissed cruely. “Why’d y-y-you d-d-d-do-do it huh? You know what I do to people who betray me a-and to _them_ of all people?” Fury burned in his chest.

“Morty! Please Morty, we’re friends aren’t we?” Paachi asked panickedly. He looked around for something to defend himself with to no avail. “Please Morty, you’ve gotta know there was nothing I could’ve done! You know how _they_ are, how _he_ is. How could I have said no?”

Morty rolled his eyes and ruthlessly kicked the Prinkian in the side to shut him up, “Don’t sa-ss-say my name Paachi.”

“P-p-please Smith,” the Prinkian begged. “You have to understand I had no choice!”

“No choice?” Morty raised a brow, “You could’ve come to me. I would’ve helped you. But n-n-no, instead yo-you thought it would b-b-be be-be-better to lead me straight into a trap.”

Paachi nervously laughed, but it was almost mocking. “Come to you? Please Smith, you couldn’t have protected me! And what would you have me do? Abandon my entire operation? I have workers to pay, they have families to feed, _I’ve_ got a family to feed!” The alien’s face contorted into something ugly, “And for what? It’s not like _he_ would hurt you in anyway whereas I would be forfeiting my life and my men’s lives if I hadn’t agreed to help him- _Oooff!_ ” Morty had kicked him again.

“So you’d have me be a prisoner,” the human viciously stated. “I helped you build this entire operation Paachi. You have me to thank for all this and _this_ is how you repay me?”

Paachi, having grown furious with the conversation, spat at the human. “Well I guess this is what I get for dealing with a fucking _Rick.”_

Morty’s eyes were cold, “I am not a Rick.”

“You sure about that- _Urgh!”_

Morty didn’t stop kicking at the giant alien until his leg was sore, and then he kicked a couple of more times just to push home the point. He was breathing heavily by the end of it and the Prinkian was moaning lowly in pain.

“I will _not_ go back to being a prisoner,” Morty hissed. “You’re lucky we were friends Paachi or you death would be far more painful.” He readied his blaster.

“You’re-” Paachi coughed out gray blue blood. “Full of _shit_ Smith.”

Morty blasted his face in.

~*~

After those emotional last few hours Morty had expected to come back to his hideout and rest for a bit, really just let the last few days soak out of his body. Maybe he would visit Summer and catch up a bit with his big sister.

Except the moment he stepped back into his lab it was the the sight of destroyed machinery and ruined workstations, notes and papers throw about everywhere, and cabinets rummaged through. At first he was fucking pissed and immediately knew this was the work of that last hound, which meant this position was definitely compromised and would need to be disposed of completely and virtually unusable now. And even though this in and of itself was an annoying revelation it was the other implication that really set Morty on edge.

The fact is that the hound was no longer in his lab, which could only mean that it had reopened one of Morty’s portals from here (by reaching in and tearing open the weak spot in reality that Morty’s portals had already created). There had only been four portals opened here recently and two of those were to enter the lab (including the one Morty just opened), and judging by the damage and stillness of the place the hound had left quite some time ago. Enough that if it had followed Morty he likely would’ve ran into it at Paachi’s warehouse.

Which could only mean one thing.

“Fuck.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short short short. Very short chapter. Much sorry. Very late. Even more apologizes.  
> But if I didn’t end things here this chapter would take much much longer to actually get finished.  
> So yeah… Thank you all for all the replies and support! I’m so sorry I’m so slow with updates but I can promise that I won’t be abandoning this story anytime soon and I plan to take it far! If I ever did abandon it I would state it. So sorry for the long waits and thanks for sticking with me! I hope this chapter was on par with your expectation.  
> As always, if you spot a mistake (grammar, spelling, or otherwise) please do let me know in the comments below or just PM me about it. Other than that, have a wonderful day and a wonderful Thanksgiving!  
> -The Firecrest

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment and kudo on your way out.


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